


Nerves

by blutopaz15



Series: S3 Fics [5]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Ez is here!, F/M, Fluff, Mid S3, Romantic mishaps, What else is new, but also!! callum is sad, callum is dork, light angst?, mentions of claudia..., rayla is sad, rayllum valentine's week, storm spire shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:42:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29503578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blutopaz15/pseuds/blutopaz15
Summary: After they arrive at the Storm Spire, Callum knows that Rayla's feeling down, so he puts together a special evening for the two of them.Prompt #4 (Romantic Mishap) for #rayllumvalentines on Tumblr!
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Rayllum - Relationship
Series: S3 Fics [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2018519
Comments: 16
Kudos: 39





	Nerves

**Author's Note:**

> Today's prompt for [Rayllum Valentine's Week](https://raayllum.tumblr.com/post/639588092987195392/hey-everyone-i-thought-with-valentines-day) on Tumblr is **Romantic Mishap**!
> 
> Just a little context...this is meant to take place the night they arrive at the Storm Spire...so after sad!Rayla at the start of 3x08. (yeah, it's prob a little late at night but...surely they got lots of sleep on the ambler, right?? Definitely _super_ well-rested...XD)
> 
> Thanks so much for reading and I appreciate any kudos/comments you are inclined to leave for me!

Rayla couldn’t quite put her finger on whatever it was that was going on, but she was positive that the boys were up to _something_. 

When Ibis had shown them around the Spire earlier, Rayla had been vaguely aware of Callum talking in hushed tones with Ezran up ahead, but she’d thought nothing of it at first. They’d probably never spent more than a day or so apart before, she figured, and she was sure that they had plenty of catching up to do, what with newfound “things” and kingly duties to be discussed. So, she’d shuffled behind, preoccupied instead with letting her fingers trail along the cold stone walls and wondering gloomily if her parents had ever done the same. 

She’d first perked up a little when she heard her name, unmistakably echoing back to her through the boys’ scramble of otherwise unintelligible whispers. 

That alone, though, hadn’t been enough to make her suspect that anything was amiss. In fact, she’d pretty much been expecting to be a topic of their conversation. If she knew _anything_ about Ezran, it was that he’d almost certainly want to know how she was doing after she’d run off like that earlier, and, even if she couldn’t catch what they were actually saying, she’d know Callum’s concerned tone anywhere. She was sure that meant he was telling his brother what she’d said about her parents. She didn’t mind. It was almost a relief, actually, when Ez looked back at her with those big, blue, sympathetic eyes of his.

The way that Ez _kept_ looking over his shoulder at her, though, and the way that Callum kept turning him back around... _that_ had been suspicious. _Especially_ because, after a few glances, Ezran had started _grinning_ in her direction and Callum had started _glaring_ at him in return before turning him around again.

She skipped ahead a few steps and her ears twitched forward as she strained to hear the rest of their conversation, but caught only the tail-end of Callum—even _more_ suspiciously—shushing his brother. Soon, they were talking about some woman named Opeli, and Rayla let her attention drift again, resolving that maybe the grinning and glaring was a part of some conversation about their “thing”. After all, it _would_ make sense for the topic to be amusing to Ezran and—a little, at least—embarrassing for Callum. 

Satisfied with her reasoning, her suspicions had faded by the time they ended up back in the main atrium of the Spire, so it didn’t phase her when the boys both agreed that they’d go with Ibis to go find the three of them some bedrolls and blankets to lay out on the stone floor, suggesting that she could go wash up first while they took care of it. She’d taken Callum’s gentle insistence paired with his hand on her shoulder as another attempt to comfort her—though that touch was not _quite_ as potent as his hand reaching for hers earlier had been—and she’d accepted the offer with a grateful smile and very little fuss. She wasn’t sure which she was more appreciative of: the little gestures of care and comfort themselves or how remarkably _normal_ it already felt for Callum to make little gestures like that.

It _wasn’t_ normal, though, that, rather than following his brother and Ibis like he’d _said_ he was going to, Callum had immediately picked up his sketchbook, and it was even _stranger_ that, by the time she’d made her way down the hallway to the washroom door, he was _still_ lingering in the atrium, now seated and settled against the wall, charcoal in hand.

She tucked herself behind a stone pillar near the end of the corridor and watched him for a moment as he finished scribbling something—writing, she thought, not drawing—and ripped the page out of his book. He seemed satisfied after reading it over once, smiling as he folded the sheet in quarters, then took off—hurriedly, it seemed—out of view.

Confident now from the combination of whispers and grinning and glares and secret notes that there was _some_ scheme afoot, but still uncertain of what exactly Callum might be up to, she shook her head and felt her own smile spread as she disappeared into the washroom to mull over what in the _world_ Callum could be plotting with that self-satisfied little grin of his.

 _Sources_ , he was _cute_.

She wandered back into the atrium after taking her sweet time washing up, thoroughly and _blissfully_ distracted by wondering about whatever it was that her not-so-stealthy human was up to with that smile.

It seemed that even _with_ Callum’s dilly-dallying, the boys had been successful: three grey cushions were now laid out, side by side, with a neatly folded blanket laid across the top of each. Ez sat on his, Callum’s sketchbook laid on another, and Zym was curled up on the one between the two, which she assumed to be hers. Nothing odd about any of that.

It _was_ odd, though, that Callum himself wasn’t sitting on his bedroll when the only other logical place he’d need to be was where she’d just come from.

She pursed her lips and looked around to confirm that Callum was nowhere to be found. 

“Where’s your brother?” she asked, shooting Ez a look much more knowing than she actually felt. She was satisfied that it seemed to have worked. Ezran looked like he’d been caught, though Rayla was fairly certain that whatever this scheme was had been of Callum’s design based on that lopsided smile that she hadn’t yet been able to get out of her mind.

Ez’s eyes found the ceiling, and he shrugged. “Uh...I’m not supposed to say.” He dug under his blanket, before holding up what she assumed to be the note she’d watched Callum write earlier. “Callum told me to give you this, though,” he said with a grin.

Rayla took it from him and sat on Callum’s bedroll, hyper-aware of Ez’s eager fidgeting as he leaned closer, excitedly glancing between her and the note. She made a show of snapping the note open in front of her face...in part to be dramatic and in part to hide in case whatever the note said made her blush.

_Rayla,_

_Follow the lights for a surprise._

_See you soon._

_-Callum_

She beamed at the words, eyes lingering especially on his name signed at the bottom and her name scrawled across the top. Her thumb passed over the tiny heart Callum had drawn in a corner of the page as she lowered the paper from her face, feeling not flushed but...floaty? Fluttery? She coughed the feeling away, remembering that she still had Ez’s full attention. He spoke before she had a chance to.

“He said he wanted to do something nice for you,” Ez said, a smidge of sympathy returned to his expression. He brightened, though, after just a moment. “I think it’s cute, just you know! Your ‘thing,’ I mean!”

“Glad we have the king’s blessing,” she laughed, not nearly as inclined to hide away about it now that it wasn’t news to Ezran...and now that she hadn’t just finished kissing his brother. “Know anything else about this?” She asked, waving the paper around before folding it back up along the same creases Callum had made. 

“Just that he seemed...nervous? I don’t know. He was doing the thing where he fixes his hair a lot.” She looked at Ez questioningly, but he just shrugged.

“Oh, and he told me you’re supposed to start over there, if you weren’t sure.” He pointed at the illuminated archway where they’d started their tour earlier and she realized all of the other lights along the same wall had been put out...probably _aspiro_ ed out, if she had to guess.

She thanked him and stood, but stopped before crossing to the single visible torchlight, preoccupied now not just with figuring out what the surprise _was_ but with figuring out what _about_ the surprise could make Callum _nervous_. 

Ez nodded, oblivious to what was giving her pause.

“Go ahead,” he said. “Zym and I have a _lot_ of catching up to do.” She heard the tell-tale yelps and giggles of Zym leaping into Ezran’s lap as she passed through the archway and started to follow the lights down the hall.

* * *

It was clear as soon as she turned the corner why Ezran had said Callum seemed nervous. She cocked her head to the side while he shuffled along in the opposite direction, the rhythm of his footsteps quick and just a touch erratic. He stumbled as he tried to turn.

She sighed, feeling the pressure of the nerves that she’d let swell in her chest dissolve. She could take care of a nervous Callum.

As he righted himself with a hand on the wall, she crossed her arms and fixed a smirk to her lips, ready to dissolve those nerves by poking fun at them, but when he pivoted back in her direction and their eyes met, she got not the sweet, relieved smile from him that she’d hoped her presence would bring, but some strange, red-cheeked expression somewhere between grin and grimace. His eyebrows lifted unnaturally, which she realized that she could actually see _clearly_ rather than just glimpsing through messy strands of brown because of the hair... _situation_...that Ez had alluded to.

“H-hey, Rayla!” He started, voice cracking and fingers searching for a sketchbook strap to fiddle with that wasn’t there. He froze in place, hands thrust downward with nowhere else to rest. “I’m—I’m, uh...I’m glad you came.”

“Just following directions,” she said with a pat against the note that stuck out from its spot tucked it into the neckline of her armor. 

She crossed to him and peered more closely at his hands, still awkwardly stiff and fisted at his sides, seeing that they were gloveless. Rayla couldn’t help but grin, knowing that meant that his touch would be even softer and warmer than earlier...his hands all large and gentle wrapped around hers… 

“What happened to your gloves?” She teased, knowing _exactly_ what had prompted him to remove them. Apparently even dense, dorky Callum had understood why she kept pulling them off his hands.

“Oh well, I thought…” Callum flinched as if he’d done something wrong, eyes refusing to meet hers, travelling first to the ground, then the ceiling. The strange grin-grimace was gone, but he was actually _frowning_ now. 

Apparently teasing was _not_ the solution to these nerves.

He continued, his hands tugging anxiously at the hem of his jacket now. “I thought you liked holding hands without them because yesterday...”

She felt warmth start to pool in her cheeks at how quickly she grabbed for one of those gloveless, tense, balled-up hands of his to interrupt him. At her touch, Callum unclenched his fist to let her fingers slip between his, and she watched his shoulders broaden a bit with the deep breath he took. Her own breathing eased when he met her eyes and she saw some measure of the relief she’d hoped to provide. 

She had to bite back the urge to tease him about how _sweaty_ his hand was, though.

 _Maybe later,_ she thought, _when he’s not being a nervous dork for no good reason._ She ran her thumb along his instead, offering the same smile she pretty much _always_ had ready for him.

“I mean, five fingers are _weird_ enough without—” His face fell again. _Right_ , she thought, no _teasing._ She stopped and squeezed the hand she’d reached for instead. “No, I mean...Callum, you’re right.” Her cheeks flamed, but he looked up again and it seemed like reassurance might have helped...a little, at least. She continued. “I...uh...I _do_ like it.”

“Oh,” he said with a full and genuine smile breaking across his face. Not _quite_ as cute as the smug little smirk from earlier...but much better than the nervous face. _Definitely_ worth her blushing. “Good.”

The pink spreading across his face helped with the cuteness. Not that he really needed much _help_ with that, she thought, grinning back at him, wider than before. She wasn’t quite sure if nervous Callum could handle a kiss but...she couldn’t resist. She pressed one to his warm cheek anyway.

His beaming at her was interrupted when his eyes cut to their intertwined fingers, and she was reminded that there must be _some_ reason for all of his pacing and stammering and blushing.

“So…” she started, encircling his hand with both of hers now.

“Oh, right!” He exclaimed, tugging her to the door they stood in front of. He stopped short, though and hesitated. “Rayla, uh...if it’s okay, do you...do you want to come in here with me?”

She raised an eyebrow at his stilted request, and bit back another snarky remark. “Uh...sure?” she agreed instead, hanging back as Callum reached to pull open the door for her, glowing light pouring out immediately into the relative darkness of the hall.

She turned to look at Callum before venturing inside and felt those nerves of his—that she’d been _trying_ to curb—catch to her instead. He was watching her _so_ very intently, the soft smile on his lips and the warm light twinkling in his eyes ruining any semblance of composure she’d had. Callum’s lips twitched into a slightly wider smile and he held out a hand in front of him, gesturing that she should go in. She sucked in a breath and felt her heart give a pair of strong, syncopated _thumps_ before reluctantly ripping her eyes away. 

She found a room full of candlelight waiting for her, stealing away that breath she’d just taken.

This...this was clearly the _something_ that Callum had been up to all night, she thought, stepping in through the open doorway. She found the small sitting room, which she vaguely recalled from their tour of the Spire as being set aside for visiting elven dignitaries, doused in warm light. Candles and torchlight flickered in practically every inch of the room, one tiny fire seeming to meld into the next, casting a pleasant yellow glow across the grey stone walls that’d looked so cold and foreboding earlier. 

“What’s all this?” She wandered to a low table opposite the settee, where Callum seemed to have carefully arranged the last few pieces of fruit they’d stashed in his pack after leaving the desert. There was even a flower laid at the side of the stack. She glanced up at him as he lingered in the doorway, watching her still with tiny pulses of firelight continuing to shine in those green eyes. 

She wondered briefly—before deciding that she didn’t care—if the candlelight would hide or highlight the color she felt rushing to her face again.

Callum began to drift closer, a much more peaceful smile settling along his lips. “Do you like it? I saw all the candles up here earlier and I thought maybe—oops!” 

By the time his boot had connected with candelabra, it was too late to do anything about the tall lamp tipping over, and a moment later, too late to do anything to prevent the flames that had caught on the rug under their feet once the candlesticks themselves had hit the ground.

“Ah! What do we do? What do we do?!” he shouted, the tiny glimmer of peace he’d managed a moment ago immediately escalating to panic. 

She hadn’t _intended_ on starting to snicker at his wild gesturing, as he leapt and hopped back and forth around the tiny fire, but it occurred to her that the only other situation in which she’d _ever_ seen Callum look quite so _ridiculous_ had to have been in the middle of that—what did the boys call it?—jerkface dance. Then, the image of him all crossed-eyed and even goofier-looking than he was right now flickered through her imagination...and she was a goner. Controlled chuckles tumbled into full out giggles, worsening still until her whole body shook with laughter.

“Well, I _think_ now might be a good time for your little blow spell, mage,” she choked out, cackling all the while watching Callum’s reaction to their predicament. It wasn’t _really_ all that funny, she knew, but some weird combination of giddy delight at Callum’s attempt at romance and the unnecessary tension his nervousness had wrought kept her giggling. 

“Right, right!” he said before casting an _aspiro_ that immediately extinguished the flames, leaving a blackened patch of carpet beneath them, as she covered her mouth to stifle the last of the laughter that kept bubbling up. 

“That’s what I get for trying to do something romantic, I guess,” he grumbled, kicking at the blackened threads. She didn’t think the bitterness in his voice was _meant_ for her or her laughter, but it killed the last of her giggling all the same when she noticed how intensely he glowered down at the little pile of burnt fabric, still smoking a little. She hadn’t meant to laugh _at_ him. His hands were all fisted up again too. “Sorry for ruining our night.”

Again, all it took was a single touch for him to let her fingers slip between his. He didn’t look up though.

“Callum, it’s okay.” She said, hoping the lilt of laughter that’d come back to her throat would be reassuring. He continued to frown at the floor dejectedly, only looking up when she took her hand away from his to grasp each of his shoulders. “Seriously. You didn’t ruin anything. Well...except maybe the rug,” she shrugged.

The faint smile on his lips was _definitely_ for her benefit only and not because he felt any better, just like the little exhale that barely passed for a laugh. His eyes soon drifted away again too, heart-breaking now instead of heart-stopping, even with all the warm light continuing to flicker in them. She shook her head.

“Alright, big feelings time, or _whatever_ ,” she resolved, yanking him to the couch. She realized too late that her tone certainly _did not_ match Callum’s when he’d made her the same offer. “ _What_ is going on with you, Callum? Why are you all nervous and mopey?” 

Guiding his still-sweaty hand into her lap, a soft touch balanced out her demand to know, and he made an effort again to smile at her, squeezing back at her fingers, before giving in to those “big feelings” with another full-out frown.

“Rayla, I...I just don’t want to ruin this.” He looked like he was almost _pleading_ with her when he looked her in the eye. “You and me. Our thing.”

Hadn’t he been listening? Who _cared_ about the singed rug or his clumsy stumbling that’d started the fire in the first place? Certainly not _her._

“I just _told_ you—” His glare was soft, but it was a glare nonetheless. “Right. What am I supposed to say? ‘I hear you’?” she asked, mimicking his original explanation.

“Like I was _saying_ ,” he started again, throwing a gentle elbow out at her. “I don’t want to mess this up and I’m worried that I’m going to. The only other girl I’ve ever liked—” 

“Claudia?” She wasn’t sure _why_ exactly she’d felt the need to clarify. He nodded.

“I had to try _really hard_ just to get her to notice me,” he explained, looking especially downtrodden at this recollection. “Even a little bit.” 

Their _thing_ only magnified her distaste for seeing Callum hurting, especially when she could pin the blame for it somewhere. She pressed her lips together.

She could settle for just making him forget. She tugged on his hand again, wrapping both of hers around his, and interrupted him.

“I don’t know if you could tell from the fact that I keep kissing you, Callum, but I’ve _already_ noticed you.” He grinned back instead of glaring this time, but the adorable way his eyebrows lifted and his head tilted to the side...right. Big feelings time. “Listening. Sorry.”

“That’s exactly my point, Rayla,” he continued. He fixed his stare on their joined hands, adding his left hand to the pile now too. His fingers caressed hers, the way they’d done earlier when _she_ was the one shakily spelling out all of _her_ suffering. “You...you _do_ notice me and I can’t really understand why. Why would someone as _amazing_ and _special_ as you are be interested in someone like me?” 

Even though she knew the compliments were an attempt to mask the depth of his self-doubt, Rayla felt her face grow pink again anyway when he looked up briefly from staring so contemplatively at their hands. He looked back down, sadly again, and she squeezed her fingers against his, pressing along each knuckle, hoping that he’d find her touch as comforting as his always was.

“So, I guess I was trying to impress you to—I don’t know—earn it? Earn you? I don’t want you to think I’m taking this— _you—_ for granted.” The firelight shifted from reflecting against the soft warmth in his eyes to pulling out the discontent that bloomed there instead. His lips curled up into a bitter grimace. “But, _of course_ , like _always_ , I messed it up!” 

He’d raised his voice and lifted his shoulders in a dramatic shrug, and she matched his soft glare from moments ago instead of interjecting again. He sighed, letting the frustration fade. 

“I _know_ that it wasn’t that big of a deal. Eventually, though, Rayla, I’m going to seriously mess up and you’re going to realize that this...our _thing_...was a horrible idea. That I don’t deserve you.” For the first time since he’d begun, she saw a pair of tears shining at the corners of his eyes.

“It’s—it’s only a matter of time.” He sniffed and wiped the wetness away, looking up at her. “I’m done,” he clarified, clearing his throat. “Sorry.”

The pained look on his face, even _worse_ than when they’d started—wasn’t this supposed to _help?—_ gripped at her heart and she felt tears prick in the corners of her eyes too. 

He thought he didn’t _deserve_ her? 

If he’d been anything other than close to tears, she would’ve laughed. 

Callum, sweet and sincere, clever and _cute,_ funny and— _apparently_ —foolish Callum… 

Yeah, no. He deserved...much _more_ than anything _she_ could do for him, and he certainly didn’t need to do anything more than just... _be_ for her to want him. For her to _love_ him.

“Callum, you don’t need to _try_ to impress me. I’m in this for _you_ , not for... _this_ ,” she said, squeezing his hand tightly in hers before releasing it to gesture to all the candles her sweet human had lit, _just_ for her. She threaded her fingers through the silly-looking, slicked-back hair set against his forehead and mussed it up until it hung—a lovable, disheveled chestnut-colored _mess_ —in front of his eyes. His smile grew, wide and ever more genuine, as she continued.

“Don’t get me wrong, Callum. All of this is _sweet_. _Really_ sweet,” she said, nudging his arm behind her back so she could scoot closer, “and I appreciate it. But you don’t need to be worried about _convincing_ me to like you. I wouldn’t be in—” 

It’d been, what? A day? Two, if you squint?

Nope.

She coughed. 

“I wouldn’t be _with you_ if I didn’t like you the way you are—dumb, dorky human clumsiness and all,” she teased, letting her hand fall against his knee. 

Their sides were touching and his fingers had found her waist, but she was most preoccupied by his forehead resting against her temple.

“I like you the way you are, too, Rayla,” Callum whispered after he’d pressed his lips to her cheek. He lingered _so_ close, warm breath continuing to float against her skin.

“I’m not going to just stop liking you because of something stupid like knocking over a lamp,” she whispered. His eyelashes fluttered against her cheek while she reassured him, tightening her grip around his knee. “You don’t have to keep _earning_ it or whatever,” she said, with a tinge of bitterness at the fact that _someone_ had ever made him feel otherwise—like he had to _earn_ love. 

“You know I’m going to keep doing stuff like this for you anyway, right?” The way he chuckled was a relief, as was yet another kiss against her cheek.

She hadn’t realized just how _heavy_ her heart had become until it lightened when she saw that glimmering sparkle of pure affection back on Callum’s face, pushing out the nerves and bitterness and frustration so that all that was left...was love. 

At least, she was _pretty_ sure that’s what it was. 

“I figured as much,” she started, letting herself tease again. “If we’ve learned nothing else here, we now know we can add ‘hopeless romantic’ to the list of all of your dorky little quirks.” Her fingertip brushed against his nose, and he grinned. 

With the tension resolved and their breathing easy again, they reclined against the couch cushions, Callum’s fingers on her waist pulling her into him gently. 

“I _am_ curious about what the actual plan was here,” she said, turning to wager a guess with a look to his lips.

“Pretty much this,” he shrugged, tightening his grip around her middle. A hint of that self-satisfied smirk from earlier spread again, before his eyes, still warmly lit but half-lidded now, drifted to her lips too. “Maybe we could add in a kiss or two?” 

“I think that could be arranged,” she giggled, moving close enough that his nose brushed along hers but not quite close enough to join their lips. She reached for the hand that wasn’t wrapped around her waist, tucking her fingers against his still-sweaty palm. “Still nervous?”

“Mmm...no,” he hummed, angling a little closer himself but indulging her in her little game of keep-away. “Not particularly. Why? _Should_ I be?” 

Rayla felt her cheeks color again with the blatant flirtation in his tone and the way both of his hands had conspired to hold her _just_ a little tighter.

“Hand’s still _sweaty,_ ” she explained with a squeeze, closing the distance between their lips before he had a chance to get all nervous and dorky again.

He broke their kiss quickly, but only because he was laughing. She smirked and pressed closer, trapping him against the back of the sofa with two hands at his shoulders. “I suppose I could _give_ you something to be nervous about, though.” 

Callum’s cheeks were red now too, she noted with satisfaction, but the mischief in his smile matched the mischief on her mind. His lips did a _pretty_ good job of keeping up with hers too...

No nerves to be found _there_ , at least.

**Author's Note:**

> (I thought about writing the makeouts--as y'all know I love to do--but the fic felt done? So I didn't...but yeah, lots of post-fic, smoochy, smoochy rayllum, making out by candlelight...dammit, now I wish I'd written it.)
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> [Come be friends on tumblr!](https://blutopaz15.tumblr.com/) :)


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